UPDATED: Private fund establishes $15m in support for women and minority owned nanotech companies in New York

BigIT is making another sizable investment in New York State nanotechnology – women and minority owned nanotechnology businesses will now have support from a private $15 million fund to build their businesses. New York State is working to become a hub for nanotechnology, by working with private companies as well as state university campuses to build out the industry in-state. As CivSource reported, the first big push came in 2011, in the form of a $4.4 billion investment from Intel, IBM, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Samsung, and TSMC. Since then, the state has provided its own percentage of matching funds to the SUNY College for Nanoscale Science Engineering and the University of Albany.

Last year, another big investment came from Singulus Technologies, a Germany-based thin-film manufacturer, which partnered with the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University of Albany to launch a $12 million research and advanced tooling project at CNSE’s Albany NanoTech Complex. The latest $15 million fund builds on this partnership with CNSE, and includes more of the founding companies.

The fund will be part of the Global 450 Wafer Consortium (G450C), headquartered at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE), and will support specialized education and training programs designed to increase the opportunities for women and minorities to take advantage of New York’s fast-growing nanotechnology industry. The fund will also support the formulation and implementation of a complete spectrum of education and training programs – from elementary education to certificate-level skills training to Master’s and doctoral degrees – that target the attraction, retention, training, and re-training of students and workers from underrepresented social groups in science and engineering to enable careers in nanotechnology. In addition, the fund is creating an industry talent recruitment strategy that is focused on broad based inclusion.

The education and training initiative is funded by five leading international companies – Intel, IBM, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, TSMC, and Samsung – that are collectively investing $4.4 billion in G450C, which is spearheaded by CNSE and targets the development of the next generation of computer chip technology in New York State. These leading-edge technology advances may facilitate the possibility of building a 450mm chip manufacturing facility in New York, with these plants projected to cost in excess of $10 billion each.

The announcement comes as construction nears completion on G450C’s new headquarters building, NanoFab Xtension (NanoFab X). 20% of the companies involved on the construction project where women and minority owned businesses. The Governor set this inclusion target when the project launched, and worked with the Greater Capital Region Minority Business Association to identify qualified companies.

“Over the past two years, the state has worked hard to ensure that our Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises play a leading role in New York’s economic recovery,” Governor Cuomo said.

UPDATE: Bain Capital just released its 8 macroeconomic trends for the future, citing nanotechnology as a key emerging industry. Read their presentation, posted by ZeroHedge here.